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Culture Abuse

On June 15, Culture Abuse will release their sophomore album Bay Dream. Featuring new single “Calm E,” Bay Dream is the Bay Area-bred band’s first full-length release for Epitaph Records.

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, M83), Bay Dream follows Culture Abuse’s 2016 debut Peach. The album elevates their melody-heavy garage punk to a new level, drawing inspiration from artists as eclectic as Sly and the Family Stone, Paul Simon, and reggae legend Billy Boyo.

With the album’s lyrics largely informed by Kelling’s recent relocation from San Francisco to Los Angeles, physical and emotional movement play off each other effortlessly throughout Bay Dream.

“I wrote songs in my head until I got a guitar,” says Kelling in reflecting on Bay Dream’s expansive sonic palette. “Just going after the sound that I think each song needs individually, so the sound is in constant change.”

Along with Kelling, Culture Abuse features guitarists John Jr and Nick Bruder, bassist Shane Plitt, and drummer Ross Traver. Formed in 2013, the band signed to Epitaph Records earlier this year.